This thirteenth-century font from Os has a remarkable shape and a rich iconography. The circular basin with a profiled rim is surrounded by four supporting corner figures that create a transition to the square base. The rather coarsely carved figures represent two bearded men, a bishop with a mitre and crozier and a woman with…Continue reading 6 Baptismal Font from Os
Category: Beholder
8 Relic Shrine from Filefjell
This relic shrine is built from oak and covered with bas-reliefs of gilded copper. The shrine stems from the stave church, abandoned in 1808, of St Thomas – probably St Thomas Becket – on the Filefjell, located on a plateau along an important road between eastern and western Norway. The shrine has the form…Continue reading 8 Relic Shrine from Filefjell
16 Five Aquamaniles
Ritual rules prescribed that priests should wash their hands before and after Communion, as a sign of purity and to prevent any crumbs of the consecrated Host from becoming desecrated. To this end, a special vessel was used, called an aquamanile (aqua=water, manus=hand), which usually took the shape of an animal carrying associations with physical…Continue reading 16 Five Aquamaniles